Yule Log Cake - A Fabulous New Year's Sweet Treat

Step-by-step cake recipe

• Start preheating the oven at 180 degrees. • Place the milk on the surface so that it warms up to room temperature. • Separate the eggs into yolks and whites.

Preparing the biscuit

• Take the yolks and place them in a deep bowl, which will be convenient for whisking. • Add fine sugar (3 tablespoons) to the yolks. • Mix them until smooth. Add milk and butter. • Mix until soft and uniform. • Sift flour, cocoa and cornstarch. Mix until the consistency becomes smooth. • Take out the whites. Start whisking with a mixer. • Add cream of tartar and continue whisking until the whites turn into a white airy cream. • Gradually add fine sugar (½ cup) while continuing to whisk the whites. • Mix the whipped whites and chocolate dough. • When they are combined, put the dough on a baking sheet covered with paper. • Bake for 12-15 minutes in a preheated oven. • Carefully detach the edges where the dough may have dried or stuck to the baking sheet. • Cover with a towel and place a wire rack or board on the towel. Turn the baking sheet over and carefully remove the paper. • Wrap the cake in a towel and let it cool completely.

Preparing the butter filling

• Take powdered sugar, add butter, cut into small pieces. • Mix with a mixer. • When the butter cannot be separated from the powdered sugar by sight, start gradually adding milk. • Add vanilla extract, whisking continuously. Add salt.

Making chocolate cream

• Take the chocolate. Add hot cream. Stir until the chocolate is completely melted and you get chocolate cream.

Cake decoration

• Take the whites of two eggs, start whisking and add ¼ teaspoon of cream of tartar. • When the whites become airy and dense, start adding ½ cup of fine sugar. • Transfer the cream into a pastry bag (if you don’t have one, take a simple plastic bag and cut off the corner from which you can squeeze out.) • Pipe onto a baking sheet covered with paper, creating small plates and sticks, which will later become a decoration for the cake in the shape of mushrooms. • Sprinkle cocoa on top, using a sieve for even distribution.

• Bake at 93 degrees for 1.5-2 hours • Give them at least 30 minutes to dry • Melt ¼ cup of dark chocolate. Dip the circles (mushroom caps) and attach them to the stems, creating beautiful mushrooms. • Pour sugar into a ladle, fill it with water and put on the fire. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. • Add the cranberries to the syrup. Stir them into the syrup. • Remove the cranberries without draining the syrup. The cranberries should be covered with a thin layer of syrup. • Add rosemary sprigs to the syrup. • Stir, remove the rosemary sprigs. • Place the cranberries and rosemary on a well-ventilated surface. Preferably on a wire rack so that air can pass from all sides. • Leave them to cool and dry for at least 1 hour.

• Take sugar (½ cup) and sprinkle it over the cranberries and rosemary. • Carefully unroll the cake layer wrapped in a towel. • Evenly spread the chocolate filling on it, leaving the edges uncovered. • Roll it back up. Wrap it tightly in a towel and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. • Remove from the refrigerator and cut off one end of the roll so that the end is even. • At the other end, step back a little from the edge and cut at an angle (about 30 degrees) • Place the chocolate cream in a pastry bag. Grease the cut off piece of the roll on the flat side and “glue” this piece in the middle of the main part of the roll so that it lies on the plate.

• Cover the entire surface of the roll with chocolate cream, creating the illusion of tree bark (use decorative tips for a better look). Leave the cut edge without cream. • Arrange rosemary and cranberries at the base of the cake, some can be placed at the junction of two pieces of the roll. On top of the cake • Place mushrooms where you like. • Dust with powdered sugar (use a sieve to make the powder look like snow.)

Enjoy this classic French cake that looks like a fallen tree in the middle of a snowy forest.